ATLANTA — While sitting around waiting to see if today will finally be the day Bob Watson renders a decision on Nyjer Morgan's suspension appeal, I've been playing around on baseball-reference.com's fantastic "Play Index" feature, which lets you look up all sorts of stats based on just about any criteria you can come up with.

Since the Nationals' sixth season is nearly complete — some of you might argue it's already over — it occurred to me that the franchise has been in D.C. long enough now to start compiling leaderboards in all the pertinent categories (home runs, RBI, wins, strikeouts, etc.). Some of the names will be obvious. Some will take you by surprise. Some will make you laugh. Some will make you cry.

So here you go: The Nats' all-time statistical leaders (2005-present)…

Nyjer haters should take another look at batting average. Maybe he shouldn't be lead off but still… I was surprised as how much my heart still tugs to see certain players names here. Nick Johnson, for obvious reasons. Esteban Loiza, for reasons that totally escape me. I can't recall how long we have Soriano — I thought it was only a year. Am I wrong about that? Pretty impressive HR numbers if I'm not. I know the Cubs don't feel like they got their money's worth out of him, but MAN do I love watching him at the plate, even still. I remembered that Austin Kearns once really was a solid everyday kinda guy. And look at Willie's HR production. I didn't realize. Finally, not for the first or last time, I say thank the gods for Ryan Zimmerman. Can you imagine how bummed we would be without him? Thanks for compiling this, Mark/Go Nats.

What jumps out at me is how little the top spots are likely to change in the next year or two. Most of the names on these lists won't be moving up, and not many current Nats threaten to get past a diving Jose Vidro. (Couldn't pass that up.)

Boy, that pitching roster brings back some (not so pleasant) memories. Jesus Colome, the human rain delay? Saul Rivera, whose 245 appearances seem to have resulted in about 200 cringe-inducing performances? Micah Bowie. Who the hell is Micah Bowie? And after 6 years, our leading pitcher has 35 wins — fewer than 6 per year, on average. I'm starting to fell nauseous.

What stand out to be me is:1) We are watching a great player in Ryan Zimmerman, enjoy watching this guy in his prime.2) Nick Johnson was a very good player, it a shame the guy just couldn't avoid injuries.3) Alfonso Soriano place on this list, shows that we have not have enough good powers hitters on this team (Sign Dunn Now!)I'm Out

Thanks for posting this, Mark. It evokes happy memories of my all time favorite Nat, Ronnie Belliard. Ronnie B. was just released by the Dodgers and, at age 35, probably won't play again except in the Dominican Winter League. In his day, he was an All-star second baseman and a great situational hitter. Thanks to Rizzo for trading him to the Dodgers so he got into the play-offs and played most of another year. Who can forget his two-run walk-off against the Orioles in 2008?

ON-BASE PERCENTAGE (min. 500 PA)1. Nick Johnson .4162. Dmitri Young .3823. Adam Dunn .3804. Josh Willingham .3775. Elijah Dukes .359______________________Look at #5 on the list. Still can't believe they went with Nyjer over Dukes and when the Nats cut him they probably ruined his career.JayB was right that Dukes didn't come into Spring Training ready to play baseball but I think he was still dealing with his father dying and all.Any Dukes updates?

bdrube said…You forgot strikeouts, where Jason Bergmann is second to Livo on the all time Nats list with 299 (Livo just passed him this year). That say volumes about how bad this team has been.Thanks for the reminder. I was going to include strikeouts but forgot. Here's the full top 10…1. Livan Hernandez 3622. Jason Bergmann 2993. John Lannan 2754. John Patterson 2425. Jon Rauch 2246. Chad Cordero 1977. Saul Rivera 1918. Esteban Loaiza 1739. Tyler Clippard 17210. Joel Hanrahan 171